


Come On, It's Christmas!

by dirkygoodness



Series: Germans vs Tailcoats [4]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: ? - Freeform, Also forgot to add him and I didn't want to go through writing all these tags again, America/Alfred, Austria/Roderich - Freeform, BUT ALSO HAPPY, Canada/Matthew, Christmas, England/Arthur, Fluff, France/Francis, Germany/Ludwig - Freeform, Gils dad becomes a drunk, Human Names Used, It ends up very happy, Japan/Kiku, Lots of shipping, M/M, Merry Christmas everybody, Multi, North Italy/Venenziano, Possibly More Tags To Come, Prussia/Gilbert - Freeform, SO MANY TAGS OH MY GOD, Sad, Sad Backstory, South Italy/Lovino, Spain/Antonio, Upsetting family backstory, he doesn't have happy Christmases, oh yeah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 04:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2837756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dirkygoodness/pseuds/dirkygoodness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Don't let the sad times affect what could be the best time of your life. If you let it, bad memories will wash away the nice ones. But instead of focusing on the sad times, focus on the happy. Focus on the fact that your brother is standing right over there - or the fact that your good looking boyfriend is in the kitchen helping make dinner so that you and the rest of us can have a nice meal together." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>----</p>
<p>Gilbert doesn't have very good experiences with Christmas, and his friends and family aren't going to let that ruin their time together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. There's Eggnog And Lots Of Green Shit In My House

**Author's Note:**

> SCREAMING  
> This is going to be a two chapter fic, and I will try to have the other one up soon.  
> i tried to make a cute fluff fic and this shit came out instead. rrrrrgh  
> Sorry for inconveniences, misspellings, and any other mistakes I tried to fix as much as I could.

Christmas for Gilbert hadn't ever really been normal, or rather classified as normal from an outsider's perspective. He hadn't lived with anyone most of his life, so instead of taking the time to put up a tree and celebrate, Gilbert would spend Christmas like any other day of the year.

He ordered pizza, drank a few beers, maybe watched a movie, and then went to bed. When he'd been younger, though, his Christmas had been closer to what most considered 'normal'. They'd celebrate and have a big dinner, and have presents. Thought it was only him, his brother, and their father.

After their mother died however, Gilbert's father almost stopped doing anything like 'fun' all together. He actually got rather frightening when he drank, so Ludwig and he'd even tossed all the alcohol or hidden it from him. The only real stability Gil had had was his grandfather, much like Ludwig's boyfriend actually. 

But this year, this year was going to be different. It wasn't out of determination on his part, but rather his boyfriend having decided that he had become fed up with 'holidays are just like any other day'. So, Roderich had decorated their apartment beyond anything Gilbert could have imagined.

There were lights and green tassels, ribbons twirling around door frames, a battery powered dancing Santa and to top it all off, in the middle of the living room there was a massive green tree. Of course it wasn't real, Roderich not wanting to have another bat incident, so he'd stuck with synthetic. But even so, it was the highest quality he could attain. It looked real. Which Roderich was obviously very proud of. 

 Even with all of this, Gilbert was still, to put it mildly, a grinch. He didn't like all the green, fake plants that were strewn around the house and he didn't like how he had to be constantly putting presents under the tree - or wrapping them. Roderich had planned an actual, big, family Christmas for Gilbert.

He'd invited his brother, Ludwig, and by extension all of Ludwig's friends. He'd also gotten the courage to call Gilbert's friends, Antonio and Francis. So there was many a gift that Roderich had bought to be wrapped and put under the tree. And to top it all off, he'd made Gilbert a check list of people he needed to get presents for. 

  

 **Ludwig**  
**Venenziano**  
**Kiku**  
**Lovino**  
**Antonio**  
**Francis**

 

When he'd first given it to Gilbert, he'd been angry that he'd have to go out and buy presents. But later, as he was buying it, he noticed that Roderich hadn't added his name to that list. 

Now, it was Christmas day and Gilbert stood awkwardly - for what felt like the first time in years - in his own home, surrounded by people he hadn't seen in a while. Sure, he saw Antonio and Francis often, but he hardly ever saw the Vargas brothers or Venenziano's friend, Kiku.

In fact, Gilbert though as he took a drink of his eggnog, that he'd never actually met the man before. Which was actually surprising, seeing as Venenziano had a habit of introducing almost anyone he knew to his friends - even his elderly neighbors. And even though he spoke to him often, he was surprised at the amount of time that'd gone by since he'd seen his brother.

And they live about one, maybe two miles apart. Gilbert frowned, tilting his glass upwards slightly to hide it. He knew he was being a little sour this holiday, and he honestly wished he wasn't so upset with it, but Christmas wasn't one of his  _favorite_ days of the year. You could tell that by his track record.

But, he was going to at least try to make his friends - and family - have a happy holiday. Especially Roderich. Out of all of the people he had talked to recently, including Venenziano, Roderich had been the most enthusiastic about the holiday. Which Gilbert felt guilty about every time he thought of it, what with part of that enthusiasm being because he was trying to make Gilbert have a happy holiday. And so far, that wasn't working.

The white haired man turned, looking around at everyone that stood in his apartment. Ludwig was standing as stoic as ever beside a nervous Kiku who looked like he was about to fall over. And Gilbert knew that wasn't from the eggnog, seeing as Kiku - from what he gathered from Venenziano's stories - was very good at holding his liquor.

He knew that Venenziano was in the kitchen helping Roderich cook, and a reluctant but ever present to assist Lovino stood not far from the kitchen door in case he was called. Antonio was close behind him, talking off the poor Italian's ear. Francis, of course, was sitting on the couch talking to _his_ boyfriend, Matthew.

Who was actually someone that no one had expected - not even Francis. It'd been a last minute thing when Matthew had decided that he wanted to spend more time with his boyfriend instead of his half-brother who he lived with. And that had made Roderich run out of the house to frantically buy three more gifts to give him, the third as an apology for not having them sooner. 

It's really not that many people, Gilbert thought sullenly when he realized that standing in the corner of the room - of his _own_ house - was actually rather silly. He sighed, pulling himself up from his position of leaning against the wall, and walked over to Francis and Matthew. He gave a sheepish grin, pushing his glass out slightly in greeting.   
  
"Hey."

"Hello Gilbert! I thought you'd never join the party. Which I didn't think you'd do, I mean you are usually the life of  _every_ party you go to." Francis said in his chipper tone, his hand patting the cushion beside him happily.

Matthew simply nodded and smiled to him, which Gilbert took as a greeting. He'd only seen the blond a few times, but he had quicly figured out that he was a quiet man. Unlike his brother, the spit-fiery Alfred who would talk non stop every chance he got.

And on top of that, Matthew lived with Alfred's boyfriend, Arthur, who happened to be a lively (but not always happy as Alfred) English man who was almost as loud as Alfred himself. So it didn't surprise Gilbert that was was so quiet, seeing as his family always talked for him. Which wasn't exactly a good thing, in Gilbert's opinion. 

Finally, after a moment of hesitation, Gilbert sat down beside Francis, who instantly put his free hand over the German man's shoulders (which he was also doing to Matthew).

"Yeah, well, I'm just not a very Christmas loving person." He admitted, swirling his eggnog around in it's glass.

He watched his drink, until finally the feeling of a stern gaze upon him made him look up. And he was met with Francis' 'you-better-tell-me-right-friggin'-now-mister' look that could make even the smallest babies offer up their darkest secrets (which Gilbert guessed would be something along the lines of "I wet my dipper again"). 

Gilbert sighed, looking back down at his drink. "I've never really had any good, well no that's not true. I've never really had many great Christmas shit, except for when my mother was alive still. And after that, they mostly consisted of keeping our father from drinking and working on things like, I donno, fixing sinks and stuff. Just shit around the house."

He paused, pushing his tongue into his cheek thoughtfully. 

"Come to think of it, after mom died the only Christmas presents I got were the ones my grandfather gave me, and most of those I passed off to Ludwig. He was younger and he still believed in Santa then. I had to give him at least one present every year that was from the guy, and sometimes I couldn't afford anything. So, I'd give him one of mine." Gilbert paused again to put his drink on the coffee table. "Yeah, my Christmases haven't been very nice." 

"Damn Gil, I didn't know that." A voice said, and all three of them turned to see Antonio standing behind them with a sad look on his face like someone had grabbed his heart and ripped it out through his chest.

Francis gave a snort, pointing to a chair that was part of the 'living room' set that Roderich had picked out. Antonio did the same as Gilbert had, following Francis' orders and sitting himself down in his designated chair. After the Spaniard had made himself comfortable, Francis turned to Gilbert.

"I'm sorry your Christmases were so, excuse my language, shitty." Gilbert nodded as he felt the Frenchman pat his back gently. "I honestly wish you could have had something like my Christmas. Which, I will be telling you all about at a later date, but for now I have something else I need to tell you. I don't want to sound rude here, but Gil, you need to try not caring." 

"Wha-" Gilbert whipped his head up, his brow furrowed in question. Francis raised his hand to stop him.

"I don't mean give up your experiences and just, poof. Stop caring that they were bad. But I mean... try not to look back on them when it's Christmas. Try to not care for a day, or three or so days, so you can have fun."

"You're surrounded by family, Gilbert." Antonio chimed in, causing the group to once more look to him. "Don't let the sad times affect what could be the best time of your life. If you let it, bad memories will wash away the nice ones and finally all that'll be left is the sad, grumpy Gilbert. But instead of focusing on the sad times, focus on the happy. Focus on the fact that your brother is standing right over there - or the fact that you're good looking boyfriend is in the kitchen helping Venenziano make dinner so that you and the rest of us can have a nice meal together." 

Gilbert looked between the two in shock, his eyes watering slightly. He'd honestly never thought about it that way. Sure, he was going to try let the rest of them have a happy night, but that was by keeping himself away from everyone else.

But this way, he might actually get to have a good time. He wouldn't have to eat a tiny amount so he could sneak off to his bed room and hide there until everyone had left. And Gilbert knew doing that wouldn't be very good for his boyfriend. If he didn't know anything else, Gilbert knew Roderich.

Roderich would have come into the room once he'd cleaned up, gotten into his night clothes, and would have silently slipped into bed before holding Gilbert. He knew neither of them would have said anything and would have just wallowed in the sadness that would have, by then, spread throughout the room like a thick wool blanket. 

This way though, Gilbert could actually help clean up - which he wouldn't do much of, seeing as he was actually really lazy - and they'd go to bed at the same time. They wouldn't be sad and Roderich wouldn't have to hold Gilbert to make him feel better and less, less awkward and saddened. Finally he smiled, big and bright and sunny, letting out a small laugh.

"Yeah, I can do that."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long omg  
> At least it's done

It was fairly quick, the rest of the night. Gilbert spent most of his time talking to Francis and Antonio, with a little attempt at conversation every now and again aimed at Matthew. Though they usually didn't work, he at least got to see the blond talk with Francis - even if it had been in hushed tones.

Eventually Ludwig had migrated over to where they were, giving the four a simple nod as a greeting before he sat in another one of the chairs. Gilbert couldn't help his smile, though he did manage to hide it behind his glass of nog.

Slowly everyone that wasn't doing something they deemed important (namely Lovino, who refused to leave his post by the kitchen door) came to sit beside Gilbert. Even the strange Kiku had joined them in their group, though Gilbert noted that he didn't talk very much either, and he wondered how he'd managed to become friends with two virtually silent people.

And sure enough, Francis kept to his word, having every one state their best Christmas memories. He'd even deemed that he would start, and then they'd go around in a circle, from Matthew, Antonio, Ludwig, Kiku, and then to Gilbert.

His story wasn't as grand as everyone had expected - but that might have had something to do with the fact that Matthew had scolded him when he'd tried to tell a story about some chick he'd dated one Christmas.Gilbert knew how Francis felt then, what with not being able to really tell tales of weird dates he'd gone on. He guessed it made Roderich jealous or something.

After a while, Venenziano popped his head out from the kitchen and shouted as loud as he could that dinner was ready. After that, it was basically a stampede of people trying to set the table and get food all at once. The actual dinner was something that Gilbert wasn't very familiar with, seeing as 95% of it was Italian food made 'Christmasy' as Venenziano put it.

The other five percent was food Roderich had made - and Gilbert knew he wouldn't be able to pronounce any of the names of those. Roderich had a habit of cooking food that only had the biggest and strangest names imaginable. Even for his German mind, Gilbert couldn't figure most of those out.

Dinner was pretty calm, everyone talking kindly. Though there were a few jokes from Francis and Gilbert himself that had Roderich flushing deeply. It took a while for everyone to finish their dinner, but when it was done everyone had migrated into the living room for presents and sappy Christmas music.

There turned out not to be enough places for everyone to be sitting comfortably, so in the end Gilbert, Ludwig, Roderich, and Antonio had squeezed into the couch. Venenziano had sat down on Ludwig's lap, Lovino sitting on the arm of the couch while Francis and Kiku had taken up the two chairs.

It took a bit of coaxing, but in the end Matthew had sat down between Francis' legs. The actual present opening took about an hour, all the while Roderich was running around and putting all of the wrapping paper in a trash bag so as to not make a mess around his house. Gilbert had noticed this habit a long time ago, when they first celebrated one of their birthdays at his house.

At the time Gilbert found it highly amusing, but now in retrospect, he was actually glad for it. He sure as hell wasn't going to go around picking up all the present wrappings. It took even longer for everyone to leave - most of the problem being around a very drunk Francis. By the time they'd gotten everyone out of the house it was after midnight.

Gilbert went into the kitchen, placing his glass into the sink. Over all it had been a nice evening, surprising him. He had expected something boring or filled with anger. But instead, it'd been rather nice. If he was to pick a favorite Christmas, this one out have to be it. He jumped a little as Roderich came into the room, bearing an armful of dishes. He smirked, going over to the shorter man and looking at him over the dishes.

"Having fun?"

"Oh my god, Gilbert! Move before I drop them!" Roderich screeched, pulling a face as he pushed past his boyfriend. Gilbert laughed. Gilbert watched as the brunette almost dropped them, before placing them none to gently in the sink. Roderich huffed out a breath, whipping his hands off on a towel beside the sink.

Gilbert watched him for a moment before pulling a small, blue box from out of his back pocket. "Here." He said, face going red as he thrust the box into his boyfriends hands. Roderich looked at it for a moment, before eyeing Gilbert.

"What's this?"

"Your present."

"I didn't-"

"-Ask for it, I know." Gilbert laughed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "You never do." He watched as surprise took over the features of Roderich's face. He hesitated for a moment before giving in and opening the box. His eyes widened comically once he saw its contents.

"Wha-"

"Merry Charistmas." Gilbert smiled. Roderich pulled the little pin from the box, looking it over. It was in the shape of a music note and it was silver. Stones were embedded into it and Roderich looked at it funny. 

"Are these - are these diamonds?" Gilbert nodded and reached over, taking the pin. He unclippedit and pushed the pointed part through Roderich's shirt, before clipping it back. Gilbert straightened the brunette's shirt and smirked.

"Looks good on you."

"How much did this cost?"

Gilbert rolled his eyes, leaning down and kissing the other. When he pulled away he noticed Roderich sported his own blush."It's not much of a gift if you know how much it cost."

The brunette frowned but nodded. "Thank you. Even though I didn't ask for it."

Gilbert laughed again. "Even though you didn't ask for it."


End file.
